Pellet valve and method of making the same



June 30, 1959 v P. w.- FELT PELLET VALVE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAMEFiled Oct. 26, 1950 FIG. I.

) Bummer PAUL W. FELT United States Patent PELLET-VALVE AND METHOD onMAKING THE SAME Paul W. Felt, St. Paul, Minn., assign'or to Brown &Bigelow, St. Paul, Minn, a corporation of Minnesota This invention isfora pellet valve and method of making the same for gas lighterswhichuse iso-butane gas or similar fuel instead of gasoline, The pelletvalve is designed to control the flowof gas from the fuel compartmentout of the-nozzle of. the lighter. The gas is ignited by apyrophoricflint and'burns fromthe top of the nozzle until the valve isautomatically closed'when the operating lever is released, 1 I w Themethod is carried out by providing a thimble supporting memberfor apellet of powdered or granular inert material, which ma y, consist ofasbestos, fullers earth, unsintered powdered material, ceramicmaterials, powdered glass, fine metallic particles, orany. othersuitable material, which is adapted to be firstcompressed to apredetermined density. :This ,first step leaves the body .of the pelletsufiicientlyporousto permit the iso-butane orsimilarmaterialtolpass'tbrough the pellet and escape therefrom in ofgas,, which.when released from a-.. f ..a ay-.-be sni byapyrophsric l mn T next step of the method resides inv forming a hole through the innerwall of the ,thimble and simultaneously piercing ordrillingfinto-thebody of the compressed pellet. This provides a gas}escapementihole; through the wall of the thimble and thepellet; I i

I {In carrying ou m ethod, Ijfoundithatby compressiiig thematerials-.wlfiehmakeup thepelle't to a predetermined density I sue toregulate the height of the The methodmay also be carried outbybompressing the materiaLtobe used for pellet valve in any suitablemanner,{with the firststep the compressing of the materialfto apredetermin d,density, the next stepof the method is carried out byplacing the pellet in a suitable container for,:supporting}the same.andproviding a gas escapement' liolel'f'rpmthe, container adjacent the'pellet in a manner t'o. eaus ethegas from the=compressed fuel inithelighter robe-passed through the pellet so that it will not bedischarged through the nozzle in liquid form but will bein a gaseousstate and when mixedwith the outer miqs'ph re'msy' bereadilyignited by a pyrophoric flint or oth'erlsu'itable li'ghting means.providedfor the lighter,

JW lQ il-Ih'ay beinthe .formofan electric heatingelement,(not'shown'inthe drawingslor any other suitable means ofthe escapinggas from the reservoir of a the lighter.

; further feature ofmyinvention residesin providing ;a porous-pelletvalve of any suitable shape, size and design throughwhichtheiuelifromthe reservoir may escape ;in the form ofa gas and which'may .bekept'moist or Wet-by: means of a'n'internal wick', to' provide a meansof maintaining the pellet valve moist from the liquid in the reservoirof the lighter, and thereby maintaining auniform rate of flow of gasthrough the porous pellet valve.

internal-wick is held in contact the pellet valve in"any 'su itablerhanner, and the wick extends into the 'body of the fuel comparnnent Loftheplighter so that through capillary attraction the wick keeps th'epellet valve ICE moist so long as there is any liquid fuel in thereservoir of the lighter.

I have also found that my pellet valve will operate without the wick,and the lighter may be operated with a good flame. However, the flow ofgas through the pellet valve seemed to be more uniform where the wick isemployed to keep the pellet valve moist with the liquid fuel.

A feature of my pellet valve resides in providing a lighter whereiniso-butane or a similar liquid fuel may be carried in the fuel reservoirof the lighter without requiring the chamber of the reservoir to befilled with absorbent cotton or other fuel absorbing material.Heretofore lighters of this character have required the packing of thefuel chamber with an absorbent material or cotton and also requiredminutely adjusted valves of various types so as to control the escapingbutane from the fuel chamber and to prevent its spurting out of thenozzle of the lighter in the form of a liquid under difierentatmospheric temperatures. In these other forms of valves and lighterswhere the reservoir chamber is packed with cotton, the height of theflame of the lighter was diflicult to control. I have overcome thesefeatures by my simple form of valve, which is made up of a porousmaterial and which may be formed by my method of powdered metallic ornon-metallic material. Where metallic materials are used, the compressedpellet valve may be sintered or not. Further, an internal wick may beused, or the wick may be omitted.

When a lighter uses a fuel such as iso-butane or other liquid compressedfuel, a hollow flame nozzle without a wick is used, and it is importantthat only gas. from the fuel escape through this flame nozzle. It isvery important that the fuel from the chamber does not escape in theform of liquid. Where iso-butane or a similar liquid fuel is introducedinto the reservoir chamber of the lighter to provide the supply of fueltherefor, by using my pellet valve the liquid fuel is permitted toescape through the pellet valve in such a manner that the liquid fuelexpands into the form of a gas before it is released to the outeratmosphere, and thus I overcome the danger of liquid fuel spurting outof the nozzle of the lighter.

A primary advantage of using a gas lighter of the character set forth isin obtaining as many lights as possible from a'single filling of thefuel chamber, and therefore it is important that a large volume ofliquid fuel be stored in the fuel chamber of the lighter. My pelletvalve overcomes the necessity of using absorbent cotton or other fillermaterial in the fuel chamber, and thus I am able to store a largervolume of liquid fuel therein, and with a larger volume of fuel morelights are obtained from one filling of the fuel chamber.

In the old form of valves for gas lighters of this character, minutevalve openings were necessary even though the fuel chamber of thelighter was virtually filled with absorbent cotton. These old forms ofvalves with small openings therethrough have a tendency to plug upeither with the impurities carried to the valve by the liquid fuel or bythe liquid fuel becoming lodged in the smallo'p'em ings of the valve andthereby sealing ofr' the flow of gas to the flame nozzle. My pelletvalve overcomes these difiiculties owing to the fact that by my methodthe valve is scientifically constructed to have the correct density andporosity to prevent liquid fuel from reaching the flame nozzle orspurting out of the same. Furthermore, my pellet valve gives off gas onthe outlet side thereof, and the gas will not carry any impurities inthe porous openings in the valve.

In the operation of my pellet valve, it is preferred to keep the body ofthe valve wet with the liquid fuel, and when the valve to the flamenozzle, which is positioned directly adjacent the outlet side of thepellet valve, is

closed, the entire body of my pellet valve remains wet with liquid fuel.However, when the flame nozzle valve is opened to permit gas to escapeto the outer atmosphere from the fuel chamber of the lighter, theiso-butane liquid fuel begins to boil on the outlet side and gives offthe fuel gas of the lighter, which escapes out-of the flame nozzle andis ignited by the 'pyropho'ric element, where the flame'continues toburn as long as the nozzle valve is open. The depth of the hole made inthe outlet side ofthe pellet valve is very important so as to providethe correct area of the pellet valve out of which the gas is dispensedwhen the wet liquid fuel begins to boil in the pellet valve.

Therefore, it will be apparent that it is of primary importance that thepellet valve be made correctly to give a-predetermined density andporosity to the body thereof and that the outlet opening from the bodyof the pellet valve be of the correct depth or size to give the-properarea out of which the gas flows instantly with the boiling of the liquidfuel coming from the fuel chamber and passing into the body of thepelletvalve.

In the drawings forming part of this specification:

Figure l is an enlarged cross section of a thimble valve supportillustrating the first step ofmy method.

Figure 2 is an enlarged cross section of a portion of the lighter usinga pyrophoricelement for igniting the escaping gas from the nozzle of thelighter, and showing the next step of my method where the body of thepellet valve has been compressed to a predetermined state, and alsoillustrating the third step of the method where a small hole has beenformed in the thimble which supports the pellet valve and showing arecess formed in the body of the valve itself.

Figure 3 is a plan view of Figure 1, showing the circular formation ofthe thimble which supports the pellet valve.

Figure 4 illustrates the pellet valve in partially compressed formbefore it has been introduced into the compressing and supportingthimble and before an opening has been drilled into the body of thesame.

A feature resides in providing a lighter for cigarettes, cigars and apipe or for a similar use where a flame is desired, and wherein no outerwick is used, which ordinarily is covered by the cap to preventevaporation of the fuel from the wick like that used in old types oflighters.

My lighter does not use an outer wick but has a hollow nozzle valvethrough which gas from the reservoir chamber of the lighter is adaptedto escape so that it can be combined with the outer atmosphere and beignited by a pyrophoric flint or any other suitable lighting means (notillustrated in the drawings).

It is extremely important in a lighter of this character that the fuelwhich ordinarily is introduced into the reservoir chamber of the lighterin a'liquid form and which may be iso-butane, propane or any othersuitable liquid fuel, which when released into the outer atmosphere willexpand into a gas and then be ignited into aflarne.

Heretofore the difliculty has been to control the escaping of the fuelfrom the chamber so as to be sure that this fuel will be in the form ofa gas and not be in liquid form. This I have accomplished by my methodin the forming of a pellet valve, which may be metallic or nonmetallicand which material may be of any suitable nature such as powdered orgranular material, inert material such as asbestos, fullers earth,sintered and unsintered powdered material, ceramic material, powderedglass and any other material which may be compressed from powdered forminto a body of porous material, in which the liquid fuel may expand intothe form of a gas and thus be discharged from the pellet valve out of ahollow gas nozzle in gas form (not in a liquid).

My method consists in placing a partially formed or compressedgranularmaterial such as heretofore stated into a thimble 10 or placing thepowdered granules into the thimble 10, then compressing the powderedgranular material 11 to a predetermined density (as illustrated inFigure 2), then drilling or forming a hole 12 in the bottom of saidthimble and either simultaneously extending the hole 12 into the body ofthe pellet valve or forming the same therein, if desired, to provide anescapement passageway for gas from the body, of the pellet valve throughthe wall of the thimble. 'In carrying out my method above set forth, aplunger 13 may be employed to compress the pellet 11 to the properdensity. When the pellet 11 is compressed, it reduces the size of thesame, and the degree of compression thereof is to a predetermined amountso as to secure the proper density of the pellet. The density of thepellet 11 controls the height of the flame out of the hollow nozzle 14.

The pellet valve 11 may be partially compressed, as illustrated inFigure 4, and may then be dropped into the recess 15 of the thimble 10,after which the next step resides in forcing the plunger 13under'pressure against the body of the pellet 11 to compress the-sameinto approximately the size illustrated in Figure 2, and after thepellet 11 has been compressed in the thimble 10,'the wall of the thimbleis drilled with a hole 12.

The thimble 10 is held by the threaded nut "16 in the body portion 17 ofthe lighter A, as illustrated in- Figure 2. A gasket 18 sealsthe thimble10in place-inthe body portion 17 of the lighter. The flame-nozzle14 isalso held by the nut 16 and the coil spring 19 in operative position inthe top recess 20 of the thimble-10.

A sealing gasket 21 is positioned below the flame nozzle 14 to normallyclose the passageway 12 from the pellet valve 11, and a further sealingwasher 22 is provided beneath the spring 19 and adjacent the flange 23,which is formed on the bottom of the flame nozzle 14. These gaskets keepthe gas from leaking when the nozzle is closed by the spring 19, and thewasher 22 prevents escaping of gas around the nozzle when-the nozzle 14-is open. The nozzle 14 is adapted' to b e'opened simultaneously with theoperation of the flint wheel 24 by'the lever 25, so that when the lever25 raises open the nozzle 14, the flint wheel 24 will throw a spark fromthe pyrophon'c member 26 over the top of the nozzle 14 and thus ignitethe escaping gas coming from the reservoir 27 of the lighter A.

The iso-butane is carried in its liquid form'28 in the reservoir chamber27 and is adapted toexpand into gas form through the pellet valve 11,which is sufliciently porous to permit the gradual expansion of theliquid isobutane 28 into gas before it escapes out of the opening 12 andthrough the hollow nozzle valve 14. The sealing washer 21 has a centralopening'2l', which permits the gas to escape from the opening 12 upthrough the hollow nozzle 14, where it is ignited into a flame when itcomes into contact with the outer atmosphere by the pyrophoric flint 26.

While my lighterA will operate satisfactorily with my pellet valve 11,when the same isformed by my method without an internal filter wick 29,I have found by using the internal fllter wick 29 the liquid 28 may becarried by capillary attraction to the pellet valve 11 keeping the samemoist, and thereby providing a uniform condition in the valve 11 so thatthe flow of gas through and from the valve 11 is'uniform, and therebyImaintain a uniform height flame from the nozzle 14. The wick 29 alsoacts to carry the liquid butane28 or any other similar liquid fuel tothe porouspellet valve 11, when the supply diminishes in the reservoir27, thereby maintaining a uniform condition in the lighter A, which isdesirable.

My pellet valve provides a controlled retarder, which prevents liquidfuel from spurting out ofthe opening 12 through the opening 21' and thehollow flame nozzle 14, thereby protecting the operator against anyunusually high flame from the lighter A. Further, the degree of densityof my pellet valve 11 is extremely important, and it is desirable to usethe most eflective material for the pellet valve, which under allcircumstances will properly regulate the flow and expansion of gas fromthe flame nozzle 14.

The liquid fuel is brought into contact with the pellet valve by thewick which keeps the pellet moist, and when the valve washer 21 isopened by raising the flame nozzle 14, evaporation of the liquid fueltakes place in the pellet valve 11, and the vapor gas passes out throughthe flame noule 14 and is ignited.

It is important that the pellet valve 11 be properly compressed to apredetermined density, and the area of the same is essential to controlthe evaporation of the liquid gas from the lighter A to give apredetermined flame under the varying conditions, and this I haveaccomplished by my method of forming the pellet valve and also bypiercing the surface of the same by the hole 12, which penetratesthrough the skin of the pellet valve and exposes the unglazed portion ofthe same, which permits the flow of gas through the pellet in a moreeffective manner.

The filter wick 29 acts to filter any impurities in the liquid isobutane28 in the chamber 27 from reaching or clogging the pellet 11.

I claim:

The method of forming a pellet valve for cigarette lighters using aliquid fuel, which has a rapid evaporation upon being released to theatmosphere, consisting in compressing a powdered material in a containerto a predetermined density and with a porosity capable of permitting theliquid fuel to evaporatethrough the pellet valve in the form of gas,then piercing the container supporting the pellet valve andsimultaneously piercing the body of the pellet, thereby providing aporous pellet valve in which evaporation of liquid fuel may take placeso as to give off a gas vapor capable of being burned when mixed withthe outer atmosphere.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,620,530 Field Mar. 8, 1927 1,792,565 Barton Feb. 17, 1931 1,895,032Fisher Jan. 24, 1933 2,153,432 Reich Apr. 4, 1939 2,254,082 Meyer Aug.26, 1941 2,297,817 Truxell et al. Oct. 6, 1942 2,439,424 Goodloe et al.Apr. 13, 1948 2,456,779 Goetzel Dec. 21, 1948 2,482,794 Peterson Sept.27, 1949 2,528,033 Clark Oct. 31, 1950 2,532,146 Cahenzli Nov. 26, 19502,551,688 Metzler May 8, 1951 2,608,081 Morgan et a1. Aug. 26, 1952FOREIGN PATENTS 156,987 Austria Sept. 11, 1939 157,429 Austria Nov. 25,1939 404,479 Great Britain Jan. 18, 1934 479,923 Great Britain May 9,1926

